Sullivan Fortner – Moments Preserved (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Three years after the release of Sullivan Fortner’s charming Impulse! Records debut, Aria, the 31-year-old New Orleans-bred pianist and composer returns with his enchanting sophomore effort, Moments Preserved, which finds him leading a sterling trio with bassist Ameen Saleem and drummer Jeremy “Bean” Clemons. Produced by Grammy-winning Brian Bacchus, Moments Preserved arrived at the end of a productive recording period; Fortner participated on six recording sessions in less than two months. Nevertheless, he hails Moments Preserved as one of the “most honest and emotionally direct” albums he’s made yet. While gathering tunes for the album, he reflected on many key life moments that have occurred since winning the 2008 Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship and the 2015 Cole Porter Fellowship. Those moments include concluding his eight-year tenure in Roy Hargrove’s band then emerging as a bandleader.

Released in 2015 by the label Impulse!, Aria was an impressive first album for Sullivan Fortner. After making a name for himself as the designated pianist for Roy Hargrove, Stefon Harris and Christian Scott, the New Orleans native played a classical, yet not anecdotal card. Quite the contrary in fact. His technique was already formidable, his influences (Thelonious Monk, Herbie Nichols) perfectly assimilated, his writing (five of the album’s ten compositions) impeccably on point, but more than anything, it was the characteristic DNA of New Orleans that transpired through his fingers. Three years later, the aesthete impresses even more with his Moments Preserved produced in collaboration with bass player Ameen Saleem and drummer Jeremy ‘Bean’ Clemmons. Sullivan Fortner is no old timer, but a master like you don’t see anymore. Much like the late Mulgrew Miller, his piano combines a toppling technique with a musicality of exquisite taste. No time for smokescreens. With Fortner, everything is refinement, elegance and an acute sense of conversation with his accomplices, including his ex-boss and trumpeter Roy Hargrove on three tracks. Moments Preserved is an unadulterated jazz album. No artificial colours to go with the zeitgeist! Timeless music like only the greatest musicians can produce. Even when he covers Earth, Wind & Fire’s Fantasy, Sullivan Fortner fully makes this massive hit his own, rendering it unrecognizable! Astounding. – Max Dembo

Tracklist:
01. Changing Keys (Wheel Of Fortune Theme)
02. Pep Talk
03. Elegy For Clyde Kerr Jr.
04. Beans And Cornbread
05. Eyes So Beautiful As Yours
06. In A Sentimental Mood
07. Barbara’s Strut
08. Just In Time
09. New Port
10. Fantasy
11. Monk Medley: Monk’s Mood / Ask Me Now
12. The Solid Rock
13. Phoebe’s Samba

Download:

mqs.link_SullivanFrtnerMmentsPreserved20182496.part1.rar
mqs.link_SullivanFrtnerMmentsPreserved20182496.part2.rar

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